Heel-mat for pianos.



H. L. CRUTTENDEN & F. L. LAWRENCE.

HEEL MAT FOR PIANOS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 4. I914.

1,15Vfi46. Patented 0011.26, 1915.

INVENTOR5 H. L. C'm/fenden fieder/bk L, [awrence 6 5y THE/R ATTORNEKS HENRY ORUT'IEN DEN AND FREDERICK L. LAWRENCE, OF NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA.

HEEL-MAT FOR 'PIANOS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented (lot. 26, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY L. CRUTTIMM DEN and FREDERIcK L. LAWRENCE, citizens of the United States, residing at Northfield, in the county of Rice and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Heel'Mats for Pianos; and We do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention has for its object to provide a simple and eflicient heel mat for use in connection with pianos, and to such ends, generally stated, the invention consists of the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

It is a well known fact that in operating the pedals of a piano with the feet, the heels rest upon the floor, or upon a carpet, so that the floor will be scratched or the carpet or rug rapidly worn by movements of the heels. Our invention provides a very simple and highly eflicient mat which may be applied or removed at will, and which, when applied, is securely held in proper position with the mat under the pedals and in position to be engaged by the heels of the feet used to operate the pedals.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing an upright piano with our improved pad applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the heel pad removed from working position; and Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line m 00 on Fig. 2.

The upright piano is indicated as an entirety by the numeral 1, and its pedals are indicated by the numeral 2.

The pad proper is preferably made of a heavy sheet of rubber, but may be made of other suitable material. It is of a proper size to cover all of the space below the pedals which would be engaged by the heels in operating the pedals, or which would be engaged by the feet while close to the pedals. The front portion of this pad 3 is preferably rounded, while the back portion thereof, is preferably straight, and the said straight portion is clamped between upper and lower metal clamping bars 4 that are held together by screws or rivets 5. A short clamping plate or clip 6 is secured to the central portion of the top bar 4, preferably by screws or rivets 7 that are passed therethrough, through the upper bar 4, through the pad 3 and are screwed into the lower bar 4.

Upwardly bowed anchoring springs, as shown, are made, each from a single piece of spring steel wire, bent upon itself to form parallel bowed portions 8, coiled hubs 9, and projecting anchor ends 10. The said anchor ends 10 project through perforations in the clip 6 and are tightly clamped thereby against the top bar 4. The free ends of the bowed spring bodies 8 rest on the ends of the upper bar 4, and the intermediate portions thereof, when depressed, are adapted to be sprung under the intermediate front portion of the case of an upright piano, as

shown in Fig. 1, or they are adapted to be sprung under the lower portion of the pedal supporting lyre of a grand piano.

When the anchoring springs are thus applied, they tightly force the lower clamping bar 4 against the floor or against a carpet on the floor, and in either instance, securely hold the heel pad under the pedals and in proper working position for engagement with the heels. A pad of this kind, as is obvious, will prevent defacing the floors and the wearing of holes by the heels in carpets and rugs. Furthermore, the mat may be sold at comparatively small cost.

What we claim is:

1. A heel mat, and yielding means insertible between an article of furniture and said mat, to frictionally hold the said mat in position, said yielding means being independent of the support for the article of furniture.

2. A heel mat having bowed springs at one edge adapted to be compressed under a portion of an article of furniture to frictionally hold the said mat in position.

3. A heel mat provided at one edge with a bar to which it is secured, and provided on top of said bar with bowed springs secured thereto at their inner ends, and loosely engaging therewith at their outer ends, and adapted to be compressed under a portion of an article of furniture to frictionally hold said mat in position.

4. The combination with a heel mat, of upper and lower bars clamped onto one end thereof,a1neta11io clip secured on the interme- In testimony whereof we aflix our signadiate portion of the upper bar, and anchortures in presence of tWo Witnesses. ing springs made from spring steel Wire bent HENRY L. ORUTTENDEN. upon itself and provided with inner ends FREDERICK L. LAWRENCE. 5 anchored by the said clip and having outer Witnesses:

ends resting loosely on the ends of said upper I. F. SEELEY, clamping bar. S. H. STOVER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

